Banned satellite phone use alerts security

Reports of call signals being intercepted from a banned satellite phone, that has been sporadically active in parts of Punjab after the Gurdaspur terror strike, has become a cause of concern for security agencies.

On Tuesday, the signals were again intercepted from areas in the vicinity of industrial town Ludhiana, it was learnt.

The satellite phone had been reportedly active in Pakistan till July 22 and was used to make calls after the July 27 terror strike in Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur. The Army and the state security agencies are monitoring the situation.

Whether or not there is a connection between the call intercepts made by the Army and other agencies and the recent terror attack in Punjab is yet to be established. However, security agencies are not taking any chances.

What could be worrisome is that the phone got active in the Banga area in Punjab two days after the strike which indicates the movement of the phone in the area.

The phone has remained switched off intermittently. The Punjab police is doing all it can to prevent any untoward incident.

A formal word on whether there were more infiltrators other than the three militants killed in the Dina Nagar attack is still to come out.

Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Wednesday, visited the Dina Nagar police station, where the attack took place.

He announced that an exclusive SWAT team would be set up in Punjab for the border areas. He said the new team would be based in the border region to deal with any exigency.

Badal said the Army and the BSF would have to upgrade their security apparatus. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday also preferred to forgo his security as well as his bullet proof vehicle during the trip to one of the border outposts in Taran Taran district of Punjab.

He was driven to the barbed wire fence by DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and both soon crossed the fence to interact with farmers ploughing their fields adjacent to Pakistan territory.